Bumper Crop for Whole-Grain Snacks

Only two whole-grain snacks entered the market in all of 2000, according to Mintel’s Global New Product Database, Chicago. Fast forward to the year ending Sept. 30, 2008, and that number has grown to a whopping 389, and counting. Bakery items, breakfast cereals and snacks now account for the greatest number of whole-grain product launches, Mintel says.

Cynthia Harriman, director of food and nutrition strategies, Whole Grains Council, Boston, has seen particular activity in the chip aisle. “Chips overall have just exploded, even beyond corn chips,” she says. “There are just so many whole-grain chips now following on the heels of Frito Lay’s SunChips. And then Snyder’s of Hanover even came out with cheese puffs that are whole grain—you get 16 to 18 grams of whole grain per serving. You can’t argue with that.” The company has launched multigrain pretzels, sunflower chips and tortilla chips, too, demonstrating how versatile whole grains can be.

The range and volume of current whole-grain snacks is as impressive as their unbridled sensory appeal. “Today’s whole grains have come a long way from Grandma’s whole-grain fruitcake,” says K. Michael King, director, R&D/technical sales, 21st Century Grain Processing, Kansas City, MO. “Using targeted whole grains gives depth and variety of appearance, and new textural differentiation. And, with proprietarily designed flavor systems, the eating experience can be sensational.”

Some of the profiles sound downright gastronomic, like the cookies that Intelligent Ingredients/Pure Living, Princeton, MN, introduced this past winter. The company’s chef and culinologist, Kurt Stiles, pulled no punches in coming up with his Saigon cinnamon-oat, Zante currant and essence of chai tea cookie; the European chocolate truffle cookie with tart cherry slivers; or the essence of raspberry and orange blossom cookie with julienned cranberries and Zante currants—each delivering 8 grams of whole grains per cookie.

“Whole grains before were like sturdy Oxford shoes: You had your cereal and bread and it was very utilitarian,” says Harriman. “Now we’re getting into the Manolo slingbacks of whole-grain foods. This idea that whole grains can be premium, glitzy, special—I think it’s wonderful.”

—Kimberly J. Decker, Contributing Editor